Hito no uuru ta wa uemasazu imasara ni kuniwakare shite are wa ika ni semu

人の植うる田は植ゑまさず今さらに
国別れして我れはいかにせむ

Roma-ji: Hito no uuru ta wa uemasazu imasara ni kuniwakare shite are wa ika ni semu
English Translation: The fields others plant
you have never planted;
now at this late hour
parted by lands between us,
what am I to do
Meaning: You never planted rice fields as other men do, living with me; now that we are parted by distant lands, what am I to do?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3746

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She laments that, without ever living the peaceful married life of ordinary people who plant their rice fields, they are now parted by lands between them, and she does not know what to do. The plight of two who could not share even an ordinary life emerges through the contrast with the everyday work of rice planting. It expresses the grief of a couple torn apart by exile.
The author, Sano no Otogami no Otome, was a lady-in-waiting of low rank known as a nyoju, serving in the palace storehouse office; she is also written Sano no Chigami no Otome.
A left note reads "the above nine poems are by the young woman"; the nine poems from 3745 to 3753 of this book were sent by the young woman in answer to Yakamori's poems. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.

First line, "hito no uuru": that other people plant; a six-syllable hypermetric line.
Second line, "ta wa uemasazu": "masu" is an honorific auxiliary: you did not plant the fields, meaning they could not share an ordinary life.
Third line, "imasara ni": now, at this late point.
Fourth line, "kuniwakare shite": "kuniwakare" means being parted by provinces, torn between the capital and Echizen.
Fifth line, "are wa ika ni semu": "mu" is conjecture: what am I to do, the poem ends.
Author: Sano no Otogami no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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